


Left Behind

by kitlee625



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Gen, The Philinda Bad Days Project
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-13
Updated: 2015-08-13
Packaged: 2018-04-14 10:55:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4561890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kitlee625/pseuds/kitlee625
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Coulson is left behind on a mission, he must try to survive alone in the wilderness until morning. <br/>Written for Philinda Bad Days. Prompt - “Phil gets left behind.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Left Behind

**Author's Note:**

> References the story Basic Survival Skills (http://archiveofourown.org/works/2953271), which covers Coulson and May's academy survival test.

Coulson sighs and squints up at the sky. He had been hoping to make it back to the rendezvous point in time, but considering how long it took him to take out the Hydra agents, he is not surprised to see that the Quinjet has already left without him. His last instructions to the team had been to get Katherine back to the Playground, no matter what, and despite everything that went wrong on this op, he takes satisfaction in the fact that they managed to accomplish that. Tomorrow, in the light of day, S.H.I.E.L.D. will send a rescue team. He only has to last until then.

He sighs and looks around the clearing. Already the temperature is dropping rapidly as the sun sets below the horizon. Soon it is going to be very cold, and he is going to need some kind of shelter to ward off hypothermia.

It has been a while since he was in a situation like this, and his mind flips back to his survival training at the Academy. In spite of his grim circumstances, he smiles to himself. May had been his partner for survival training, and without her, he probably would not have made it. He had been certain that they would be going to a desert site like the other cadets and had been completely unprepared to face the chilly mountain peak. Fortunately, May had prepared herself for every contingency and had gotten them through three days of grueling hiking. Their instructors had been impressed by the fact that in the end, he had carried her the final steps to the safe house, but he knows that she was the real reason they had made it. Even back then, she had had his back.

He wonders how May is going to react when Bobbi, Skye, and Lincoln return without him. He imagines her worried frown and feels a pang of guilt for ignoring her concerns about the op. She had been wary from the beginning and had wanted him to take additional backup, but he had insisted that it was not necessary.

It was supposed to be a simple retrieval op. Lincoln had asked them to help a friend of his who he thought was in trouble. Since the fall of Afterlife, Katherine had been trying to lay low in northern Minnesota, but about a week ago, she had noticed strange men following her around. With rumors swirling about Hydra regrouping and taking a new interest in Inhumans, Coulson had decided that their best option was to bring her to the Playground for her own protection. However, when he, Skye, Bobbi, and Lincoln arrived in Minnesota, they found that Hydra had already gotten their hands on her. 

Not wanting to wait for backup, they had managed to track Katherine to a warehouse, where Coulson and Bobbi distracted the Hydra agents long enough for Skye and Lincoln to rescue her. The plan was to meet at the Quinjet, but in the firefight, he and Bobbi had gotten separated. His last instruction to her had been to get the others to safety, no matter what. With no sign of wreckage from the Quinjet, he assumes that they made it to safety. Now all that he has to do is wait for a rescue party.

At the edge of the clearing he finds shelter under a large tree. There are several branches scattered around it, and he uses them to build a makeshift shelter from the wind. It is not much, but between that and the clothes on his back, it is hopefully enough to get him through the night. He is a little rusty on wilderness survival, and is not sure what else he can do. Even though a fire would help him stay warm, it would also draw attention to himself, and he cannot risk that. He shivers in the chilly air and piles more leaves and branches around him to try to stay warm.

He wishes that May were here with him. She would know what to do in this situation, although he also knows just how much she hates being in the wilderness. He smiles to himself, remembering how on their survival test she had been absolutely terrified of bears. Back then, he had been fairly sure that a bear attack was the least of their worries, but unfortunately that is not the case here. Bears definitely do live in northern Minnesota, and just in case one does come across him, he decides to keep watch all night.

He manages to last about four hours before the cold gets to him, and he falls asleep slumped against the tree. His last thought coherent thought is the he hope that tomorrow is better than today.

He is awoken a few hours later by a light flashing in his eyes. A familiar voice asks, “Comfortable under there, Coulson?”

He blinks his eyes open groggily and smiles at May. “You found me.”

“You weren’t exactly hard to pick up. Whatever damaged your comm didn’t stop me from tracking the signal.”

He crawls out from under his shelter. He does not want to admit just how grateful he is to see her. Despite his best efforts, he is shivering from the cold, and he has started to lose feeling in his fingers.

“I didn’t think you’d send a team until the morning.”

“I couldn’t let you stay out here all night.” May says. 

He can see how worried she is about him, and he tries to give her a reassuring smile. “I was fine. It was just like our survival test.”

She smiles fondly. “Consider this payback for rescuing me then. Besides, I couldn’t let you spend the whole night out here alone. I mean, what if you’d run into a bear?”


End file.
